I've been dealing with back pain for two years now. Latest MRI shows disc degeneration between L2-3, L3-4, L4-5 and L5-S1. Every 3-4 months I get an LESI (lumbar epidural spinal injection) with 80mg of Kenalog which knocks down the irritation by the second day and I'm good to go, for a while. Then the pain creeps back into the lower back, right hip and both calves.
10mg of Vicodin will knock it mostly down for at best 3 hours, supposed to last 8, never has. Doc moved me up to 10mg of Percocet.
Had a surgical consult a week ago. He said I'm not a candidate, not enough damage yet. No nerve compression, no slippage. Not what I was hoping to hear. Tired of the epidurals, tired of the pain meds, just tired....
Going to find another doc for a second opinion. I was hoping he would have been able to just shave the bone a little to give the exiting nerves some breathing room.